False Accusations
by DrPsyko8
Summary: Based on the Azkaban ideas. General Bashing, Sirius is alive, somewhat Grey!Harry and Independent!Harry. Harry/YoungerBellatrix. Bellatrix isn't Harry's age, but she is 9 years younger than Sirius. Rating will change.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter**

It was just after 11 o'clock on the 4th August and Harry Potter was sitting, chained down in Courtroom 10 at the Ministry of Magic. Looking down upon him was Cornelius Fudge, with a smug look written upon his face.

"Charges are as follows." He bellowed, "Harry James Potter has been found guilty of the murder of his three Muggle relatives, using the Unforgivable Killing Curse." Addressing Harry he then spoke; "You are hear-by sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban."

The Wizengamot looked on as the chains around Potters arms were released and two Dementors moved forward to lead him away.

Harry was livid. The injustice of the current situation was unbelievable. If the auror teams that showed up at 4 Privet Drive two nights ago had even bothered to check for magical signatures, then they would know that it wasn't him that committed the crimes he had been charged with. His requests for questioning under veritaserum were denied claiming the cost of such an action was too high. Of course Harry knew that it was actually because Fudge was desperate to get Harry out of the picture, he had been ever since the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Now, Voldemort was still out there, and the Chosen One was going to shortly be behind bars.

However, Harry's anger at Fudge and his botched 'trial' was a drop in the ocean compared to the hatred he felt towards his former friends. Both had testified against Harry stating that they had seen him reading books on dark magic. The response to this from Harry was that since nobody seemed to be aiding him in training for the prophesised meeting between Harry and the Dark Lord, he had to take matters into his own hands. The only person that had expressed any interest in training Harry was Sirius, but since he was a wanted criminal, nothing had really come together. His 'friends' then went on to say how they had witnessed Harry slaughtering the Dursleys. How this was possible he didn't know, since he was enjoying himself in Muggle London with an attractive bar-maid at the time. Both Ron and Hermione had claimed to the court that they were truly concerned for Harry and expressed the disappointment that he had swayed to the Dark.

Harry wasn't buying any of it.

The sentence was read out by Fudge but Harry wasn't listening, he was gazing across the courtroom towards where Hermione and Ron were seated. Ron was sporting a triumphant smirk that even Malfoy would have been proud of, whilst Hermione actually had a look plastered on her face that was somewhere between genuine remorse, sympathy and pity, it was impossible to tell.

An emotionless mask was in place on Harry's face, but inside his mind was reeling. Thoughts were rushing through his head, most of which revolved around why Ron and Hermione had done what they had done. He began to realise, after staring at Ron's smirk for so long, that Ron was never truly his friend. He had been in it for fame, glory and riches. For a moment Harry's mask slipped and some of his rage burst out before he could contain it again. This only served to widen Ron's smirk so much that is looked as if he had been hit in the head with an axe. After summarising his thoughts on Ron, he mentally turned to Hermione. Both of the decipherable expressions on her face were not something Harry wanted to see. If it was remorse she was showing, then surely that meant that she didn't believe that Harry was guilty. But if so, why did she testify? At the other end of the scale was the pity that she was showing. This only angered Harry more. He didn't need her pity! He decided to save these thoughts for later when he was locked in a cell.

The last thing he saw before he was led away was the grandfatherly smile and twinkling eyes of the silent Albus Dumbledore. How can he be smiling at a time like this? The-boy-who-lived was being locked up and he had said himself that Harry was the only one who could defeat the Dark Lord. It was at this moment that Harry began to get ideas about Ron and Hermione's sudden betrayal. Well, not so much Ron, he had already come to the conclusion that Ron had been waiting for a chance like this.

Little did Harry know, he was only uncovering the tip of the iceburg.


	2. Chapter 2

After being side-along-apperated to a deserted port, if you could even call it that, Harry was placed in a full body bind and forced on to the oldest looking dinghy he had ever seen. 'This seems appropriate for the job' he mused. Once Harry and the two aurors accompanying him were on the craft, the rim of the boat was an inch above the water line and it looked set to sink. Harry almost wished it would sink into the cold North Sea, but he quickly banished any dark thoughts.

There was no way to stretch his rapidly cramping muscles, so Harry lay there, unmoving. He was sure, if he was able to under the body bind, he would be shivering from the cold and the sea spray on the way to Azkaban.

His thoughts quickly turned back to his recent trial. His anger simmered under the surface, but due to his recent mastery in Occlumency, he was again able to keep any unwanted thoughts from disrupting his organised mind.

After the abysmal lessons with Snape, which ended in Harry very nearly getting hexed, or worse, he had taken it upon himself to learn all he could about it and began practicing, using meditation. He toyed with the idea of going to Snape and asking him to test his mind shields so that he could tell him how terrible he was at teaching but he didn't fancy cleaning the potions lab in detention for the next month.

With the books he studied on Occlumency, came the art of Legilimency. After debating whether or not he fancy being able to delve into other people's minds, he figured the pros outweighed the cons, and began practicing the theory. He was unable to practice the practical part efficiently though due to the fact that not many people would like all their secrets revealed, especially the traitors. However he was able to try a few times on the unsuspecting pupils that were studying in the library and was fairly confident on his ability.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the old dinghy gently bobbing against a concrete dock.

He had arrived at Azkaban.

The body bind was removed and he shrugged off the aurors who were roughly tugging him to his feet. If he was going to enter this hell-hole, he was going to do it with dignity. He managed to wriggle out most of the cramp in his legs before the aurors regained their composure and grabbed his arms. He was frogmarched up the poorly cobbled path towards a single concrete building, with Azkaban itself looming in the distance. He entered the building with his escort to find two Dementors flanking two more aurors wearing medallions to ward of the effects of their companions.

"Thanks boys!" Harry called back to the aurors that accompanied him from the boat, throwing them a wink as they left, allowing the other aurors and the Dementors take over.

Harry was told to leave all of his possessions here, but since his wand had been snapped and the rest of his belongings were left behind, he only had his robes to hand over. He couldn't help but think that everything he owned, except his invisibility cloak, which he had placed in his vault at Gringotts, was now in the hands of either Dumbledore or Ron.

A worn, black and white striped robe, which was more of a dress, was thrown to Harry. Once he was dressed, he was once half-dragged and half-pushed towards the huge structure ahead. 'I wonder if they made this walk as long a possible on purpose.' He mused.

He glanced up at the aurors faces only to find a stony expression written on both, portraying no emotion. They continued towards their destination without slowing down, even over the rough terrain of the so-called path.

Exactly 9 minutes and 21 seconds later they reached the huge doors at the foot of Azkaban prison. Harry estimated that they were about 20 meters tall and both tapered towards a point so that both doors points met and made the doors look eerily like a huge tooth.

Both doors swung apart to reveal the dreariest sight harry had ever laid eyes on. With no need for a recreation area or canteen, all available space in the prison was filled with cells, with corridors no wider than 70cm joining various areas.

The two Dementors that followed Harry and the aurors left them here, but Harry didn't notice. For some reason he wasn't feeling the effects of the Dementors. He thought back to the first time he met Sirius. 'He claimed that because he knew he was innocent, the Dementors didn't affect him as much, I wonder if that's the reason'. Whatever the reason, Harry didn't care, he was just thankful that he would be able to concentrate on what he had to do without going insane in the process.

The two aurors were leading him past cell after cell, not all of them housing occupants. Due to the minimal Dementor presence on the lower, minimum-security levels, most of the prisoners were sane enough to be able to hurl insults towards the trio. On one occasion Harry was recognised. Word quickly spread and the taunting rapidly turned into hatred filled screams.

As the two aurors and Harry ascended the prison, the insulting loudmouths gradually gave way to whimpering piles of cloth, that were only recognisable as people due to the slight shuddering with each new sob.

Suddenly the two human guards stopped, Harry glanced around only to be met with one word.

"Go." Their monotonous voices sent chills down Harry's spine.

Apparently he didn't begin moving fast enough, they gave him a shove that sent him sprawling. After reminding himself about his dignity, he picked himself up and began walking briskly down the passageway.

He was soon faced with the Dementors that occupied the upper levels and realised why the aurors had stopped. Despite the medallions they wore, they weren't welcome here. Two Dementors floated towards him and beckoned for him to follow.

Most of the prisoners here were just shells that had either been subjected to the kiss or were so insane that they might as well have been.

Soon enough they reached, what Harry presumed was, the highest level. Harry was led into a random cell the Dementors left.

"So this is my humble abode" Harry said aloud to himself, chuckling.

A slight sniffle from the corner of the 7ft x 7ft caught Harry's attention. He whipped round, realising that he wasn't alone in the cell. His cell. He studied the figure carefully. He soaked in as many details as possible, which, with the figure curled into a tight foetal position, wasn't many. Despite this hindrance, he was able to discern that the figure was a female, a very beautiful female even with her hollowed out cheeks and skinny frame. Black curls cascaded down her back and heavily lidded eyes stared into space.

"Hasn't even noticed I'm here yet." He murmured, a slight twinge of sympathy clutching at his heart

Harry slowly made his way over to the woman, lest he startle her. He reached out to touch her arm. As soon as he made contact, the woman's eyes snapped up to his.

"Harry? Harry Potter?" It came out as no more than a whisper.

"That's me" He stated, sounding somewhat more cheerful than he felt. Suddenly the woman barrelled into his chest, throwing her arms around his neck and burying her head into his chest. Thankfully, her minuscule weight meant that Harry was able to keep his balance and he returned the embrace, although rather hesitantly.

Then just as soon as she started the embrace she jumped back, mumbling something about getting carried away, and diverting her stunning dark brown eyes. Harry laughed off her apologies, but his laughter soon died away as he realised who those eyes belonged to.

**A/N: I hope you're enjoying the story. This is the first piece of writing I have ever done, so it's a big step up. I would appreciate reviews, but please no flaming. I also realise that this isn't exactly an original idea, but it's one of my favourite scenarios. Any ideas on how Harry should react to his new cellmate? I know you've all figured out who it is. Oh and some ideas about how Harry plans to escape would be nice as well, I've got a few ideas floating around but nothing solid yet. Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Don't own 'Azza P.**

Minerva McGonagall was not a happy woman.

She had heard about what happened at the trial of Harry Potter and was on her way to give Albus Dumbledore a piece of her mind for the part he played in getting her favourite student locked up.

Striding towards the gargoyle at a pace that anyone would find difficult to match, her normally blank face had a rare show of emotion showing through that leaked into her voice as she gave the password to access the staircase up to the office of the headmaster.

"Liquorice snaps" She hissed so low that anyone listening could have mistaken it for parseltongue.

She began the climb up the stairs already playing through various scenarios of the coming conversation.

_Five minutes earlier_

Albus Dumbledore smiled his best grandfatherly smile at the two teenagers in front of him.

This got mixed reactions. The now almost permanent smirk on the redheads face grew, whilst his bushy haired companion only glared.

"You've both done extremely in the last week," He began. Hermione snorted. "Ronald your reward money will be transferred to Weasley vault as soon as poss-"

"Actually Headmaster," Ron butted in, "I want the money transferred to vault number 564"

Dumbledore stayed silent for a full 10 seconds, staring at the second youngest Weasley. Eventually, he conceded.

"Very well, vault number 564 it is." He scribbled something down on a piece of parchment and handed it to Fawkes.

"Gringotts."

The one word from Dumbledore was all the phoenix needed. With one last sorrowful keen, he disappeared in a burst of flame, presumably to the wizarding bank.

"As I was saying," he continued, turning to Hermione, "you did very well Miss Granger, thank you."

"Hermione's response surprised both her companion and the Headmaster.

"I won't be coming to Hogwarts next year Professor Dumbledore. I would rather not be manipulated by a Headmaster that dishes out threats and bribes to get what he wants." The edge to her voice was hard to miss.

Immediately, Dumbledore's face hardened.

"I did what I had to do, Miss Granger. With Harry practicing the Dark Arts I could not risk him ascending to new heights and becoming the next Dark Lord."

"Harry would never murder innocents!" Came the furious reply.

"That maybe the case at the moment, but with his thirst for knowledge comes a thirst for power that only the Dark Arts can provide. He would have delved deeper and deeper until he is no longer the same person. He had already begun to change. I could feel the magic resonating off of him during the trail. It was for the greater good." He finished with a dramatic wave of his hand.

Across the desk, Hermione was barely containing her rage. Eventually she managed to force out, between gritted teeth:

"As I said, I am leaving Hogwarts and shall pursue my education elsewhere."

"I am afraid Miss Granger that I cannot allow you to do that." The old codger said, once again adopting his grandfatherly smile.

"Well perhaps you should have thought of the consequences of threatening my parents!" With that she went to turn and leave.

"_Imperio!"_

Her eyes glazed over and a feeling of bliss descended upon her, she could just make out a voice that sounded slightly muffled and seemed to be giving instructions.

"You _will_ stay at Hogwarts and you shall continue to lead your life normally, only you will see Harry Potter as being a guilty dark wizard and you will express these views to anyone who asks. You will tell no one of our conversation in this office, including your parents."

With that he dismissed the two students, failing to notice that her once loyal friend Minerva McGonagall was standing just outside the office door. She had heard everything.

_Later that night_

Malfoy Manor was once a glorious sight.

However, when the lone figure began walking down the annoyingly long drive, it seemed as if it only held a sliver of the grandeur it once had.

The gloomy, grey stone bricks rose to form a three storey rectangular building measuring approximately 50m across. The figure looked up towards the balcony above the porch, to see the two guards leaning against the intricate wrought iron railings, chatting casually.

"Bloody slackers," He cursed under his breath.

Unfortunately, due to the low position in the Death Eater ranks he had found himself in, he was unable to bring any force against them for their laziness. However, that would soon change, with his part in Potter being locked up, plus the incident 3 weeks ago with Bellatrix Lestrange, he would soon be able to punish the lowly guards.

He opened the door to the manor to find the entrance hall devoid of any life.

He continued through the building only to find that the inside of the manor had even less colour than the outside. Everything was a shade of grey or, failing that, just plain black. He came towards the doors that lead to the formal dining room, in which his self-proclaimed Dark Lord was residing on this throne awaiting his report on the situation with Potter and Dumbledore.

He knocked once and waited for a reply.

After 5 seconds of waiting the door creaked open to reveal a terrified Wormtail. The stranger sneered maliciously and pushed past into the room.

He took the chance to observe his surroundings.

The long dining table that usually stayed in the room was gone. The only piece of furniture in the whole room was the high-backed throne in the centre. Approaching the throne, he stepped into the soft light that was supplied by the candles that sat in the chandelier above.

Kneeling down, he kissed his masters robes, close to the pale bare feet that poked out..

"My Lord," he muttered, without raising his head.

"Speak." Came the cold cruel voice of Lord Voldemort.

"Potter has been taken to Azkaban, and will stay in the maximum security section until the end of his life."

A genuinely pleased smile crept onto the Dark Lord's snake-like features before he asked, "Anything else?"

"Yes, Milord," came the response, devoid of emotion, except the slight undertone of fear that came with being in the presence of Voldemort. "Granger was beginning to get suspicious as to where my true allegiance lies, but during the meeting with Dumbledore, she was placed under the Imperious curse, so that she would not spill the secrets of Albus Dumbledore."

At this piece of news, the Dark Lord chuckled, well, darkly. '_The old man is doing all my work for me! With Granger out of the picture, that's one less loyal follower of the Potter boy to deal with.'_

"Very well. You are dismissed."

"Thank you, Milord." With one last kiss of the robes, the stranger rose and left, never turning his back his master. He reached the door and left, leaving the Dark Lord alone in the dining room.

'_This is interesting. Potter in Azkaban and his followers are dwindling daily. Interesting.'_

He stopped his thinking, realising that he was showing to much emotion for a Dark Lord. He needed to burn some off. '_A good Cruciatus should to the trick,' _he mused.

"Wormtail!"

**A/N: So how's it going? I really need some reviews, so please take the time to post one, doesn't have to be long, just a few words, 'keep it up' or 'I think you should…' would be fine. I have had 17 people add this story to alerts but only three people have reviewed, an extra minute to post a review can't be that taxing? Anyway, I hope you're enjoying the story, I should have the next chapter up either today or tomorrow so keep an eye out. Thanks for reading! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own anything to do with Harry Potter.**

**A/N: I managed to get this up quicker than I thought, but FanFiction seems to be having a problem with updated stories today. Anyone else got this problem? Anyway, this chapter we will be hearing Bellatrix's story and how she ended up in Azkaban. I've taken small parts from other fics and mixed them together to create a (hopefully) reasonably original scenario. On with the chapter.**

Percy Weasley almost charged into the Minister for Magic's office.

"Mr Fudge sir! I have some excellent news!"

After picking himself up off the floor in a much _un_dignified manner and recovering from the shock that comes with a lanky red-head entering one's office shouting, Cornelius Fudge inclined his head, motioning for the boy to continue.

"I've received word from Azkaban. The Dementors decided to place Potter in a cell with a very _interesting _person."

"Well Weatherby? Don't keep me waiting! Who is it?"

* * *

><p><em>Then just as soon as she started the embrace she jumped back, mumbling something about getting carried away, and diverting her stunning dark brown eyes. Harry laughed off her apologies, but his laughter soon died away as he realised who those eyes belonged to.<em>

Harry just stared at her in shock. His green eyes were wide and his jaw agape.

It was only when the petite woman began to shy away from the piercing gaze that he shook himself free from his stupor. His mouth closed with an audible _snap! _

All sorts of thoughts were cascading through his mind. Anyone attempting to use Legilimency on Harry at that moment in time would have come away with a serious headache and nothing to show for their troubles.

He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

Harry had never actually been able to see if silence could in fact be deafening, but here, in this tiny cell, with only the woman's shallow breathing making a noise, he was able to see why it was described as 'deafening'.

He continued to stare before he cleared his throat and tried again.

"Bellatrix Lestrange," he croaked.

Bellatrix could tell it was more of a statement than a question but she forced herself to nod slowly along with a meek, "yes."

With this conformation, Bella could only watch as Harry's facial expression turned from shock, to anger, confusion, back to anger, thoughtfulness and then finally settle back on confusion.

To say she was relieved was an understatement. She could feel the raw power crackling around him. She could feel the change in his emotions as the temperature in the cell changed and became hotter, even with the Dementors presence outside. She could feel the density in the air change as suddenly felt like she was trying to breathe through treacle.

Bellatrix could finally understand why her former master feared the young man in front of her.

She could tell that Harry Potter was an extremely powerful wizard.

Harry's emotionless mask forgotten, he finally settled on confusion.

What was Bellatrix Lestrange doing here? She was one of Voldemort's Inner Circle. She was supposed to be his most loyal, his most faithful.

Voldemort had already proven that he is easily capable of breaking his followers out of Azkaban, and Harry had seen Bellatrix escape the Ministry of Magic last year during Dumbledore and Voldemort's duel. He asked himself again, _why was she here? _

After drawing a complete blank, he managed to voice this question to his new companion.

"Why are you here Bellatrix?" He asked softly, sounding a lot more confident than he felt.

Bellatrix seemed to be gathering her courage because she suddenly sat up straight and said proudly;

"I am here because I betrayed the Dark Lord."

Harry's eyebrows shot up into his hairline, before, once again, confusion clouded his features.

"Would you care to elaborate on that?" He asked, uncertainty creeping into his voice.

Suddenly, Bellatrix slumped into a ball and began sobbing softly. This wasn't the same person that Harry had tried to use the Cruciatus Curse on last year. This was an open, emotional Bellatrix, not the insane, cold, hard killer that he had met before.

He made his way over to the sobbing ball and crouched down next to her, placing a hand on her back. Harry was pretty inexperienced when it came to women, but he knew that he had to be patient, she would tell him when she was ready.

So wait he did. Minutes passed and Bellatrix had long since stopped sobbing, now only occasionally letting out a quite sniffle. She sat up slowly and murmured her thanks.

"That's quite alright. Can you tell me why you're here now?" He asked, concerned. This only confused him even more.

'_Why am I concerned about this woman?' _He reminded himself that he was not alone, and diverted his attention towards the woman in front of him.

He noticed the Bellatrix was nodding defiantly.

"Yes, I will tell you everything." She launched into her tale.

"I come from a very upstanding family in England; the Blacks. We were considered one of the many 'dark' families during the Dark Lords first reign.

"I was sixteen when the Dark Lord came to the Head of House Black requesting to recruit the young members of the family. As I was a woman, the only way I would have been able to join would have been if my husband wanted me to, or if he was already a Death Eater. So it was that my head of house arranged to marry me off to Rodolphus Lestrange.

"I had met Rodolphus and his brother, Rabastan, previously and, whilst he was quite the gentleman, I had no wish to become a Death Eater and I wanted to be able to choose who I married. I came to the conclusion that the only way I could get out of the marriage was to get disowned from then family."

Harry was reminded painfully of how Sirius had been disowned because he ran away to escape becoming a Death Eater. He had ended up staying at his best friend's house; James Potter. This brought a smile to Harry's face as he realised how close Sirius and James had been.

Bellatrix saw this smile and put 2 and 2 together.

"Yes, your Godfather, my cousin Sirius managed to escape the Dark Lord by running away, although he didn't have to be married into the Death Eaters.

"This seemed to work for Sirius. He name was blasted off of the family tapestry and he was disowned as a Black. With the marriage scheduled to take place in a month, I decided to follow his example and began to plan to run away.

"Unfortunately, I didn't have the same amount of luck as Sirius. The wedding was brought forward two weeks due to a cancellation, and I was never able to follow through with my plans.

"I arrived at where the marriage was to take place, only to find that the only people there were Rodolphus, my Aunt Walburga and the Dark Lord himself. Before I could say anything to anyone, I was bound to Rodolphus. I was little more than a house-elf with a wand!

"I was forced to do whatever my husband wanted, which, indirectly, happened to be whatever the Dark Lord wanted.

"Rodolphus knew that I didn't love him and, thankfully, respected that. He never forced himself on me, despite him having complete control, and he prevented the other Death Eaters from harming me as well.

"In-between raids and missions, I was able to think for myself. Sometimes I was even able to do things without permission from my husband. Those times never lasted long though, soon enough I was left to watch as my body performed deed that I never would have even deemed possible. I was forced to watch through my own eyes as I slaughtered countless Muggles and Muggle-borns, all the while I was begging for it to stop. Occasionally, it got so bad that I couldn't see anything, for that I was grateful. It was as if my whole mind was permanently shrouded in a thick layer of fog.

"Then, Lucius Malfoy, Rodolphus and I, were told to lead a mission into the Ministry of Magic to capture you. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you what happened, but during all the fighting, Rodolphus was killed. For the first time in twenty years, the fog around my mind began to recede.

"I was able to do what _I_ wanted. I went back to my memories of my carefully laid out plan from twenty years ago, adapting it to the current situation where appropriate. However, it would seem that I was once again out of luck. Just hours before I made my escape, Severus Snape came into my quarters and, seeing the room stripped of all my belongings, reported to the Dark Lord.

"I was brought forward as a traitor. Lord Voldemort's most loyal servant becoming a traitor. The idea was inconceivable. The Dark Lord was less than pleased. I was subject to the Cruciatus curse for up to 10 minutes at a time. The worst was still to come though. Once the Dark Lord had had his fun, I was handed to the masses of Death Eaters to punish '_as they see fit.' _

"Without Rodolphus there and with the Dark Lord in possession of my wand, I was a sitting duck." Tears began to stream down Bellatrix's face, but she continued.

"Eventually, the Dark Lord summoned me once again. John Dawlish was there. He is one of the Dark Lord's many spies in the Ministry and he was told to call his colleagues in the Auror department and take me into custardy.

"So I was arrested for being a Death Eater, and on murder charges of countless Muggles. I was found guilty and I changed my name back to Black. That is how I ended up here."

Harry was speechless. Bellatrix Lestrange, no Bellatrix Black, was right in front of him, tears running down her face. Before he even knew what he was doing, he had pulled her into his arms and was whispering into her ear comfortingly.

Bellatrix Black was a vastly misunderstood character. Harry could tell that what Bellatrix had told her was all true. There was too much emotion shown in her voice for not to be true. One doesn't lie with emotion. A quick mental probe confirmed this.

Harry pulled back slowly from the embrace and looked into Bellatrix's eyes. They begged him for forgiveness. He answered her pleas by responding:

"I don't blame you Bellatrix, I know that it wasn't you that carried out those crimes."

Her eyes widened in disbelief before she hugged Harry with all of her strength.

"Thank you Harry! You don't know how much this means to me! Oh and since we are probably going to be spending a lot of time together in this cell, call me Bella."

Harry smiled. "Okay Bella, but I wouldn't bet on the time we will be staying in this cell."

She looked at him blankly.

"You, er, might want to turn around," he said, his cheeks reddening slightly.

Reluctantly, she turned her back on him.

"_Scourgify, engorgio"_

The sound of spells being cast wandlessly caused Bella to whip her head round sharply.

Harry was standing, looking rather sheepish, with a large leather-bound book. Bella shuddered to think where it had come from and how he had smuggled it past the guards.

He held it up to her. In the dim light, the title was just about readable. _'The Marauders Guide to Animagus'_

Bella's jaw hit the floor.

"So, Bella, how would you fancy escaping with me?"

**A/N: So now you know Bella's story and how they're going to escape. R&R. Thanks for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

"_So, Bella, how would you fancy escaping with me?"_

Bella was speechless. Her blank stare must have affected Harry because his earlier enthusiasm was dampened slightly.

The problem was, for the life of her, she found she still couldn't say anything.

"I, er, understand if you would rather stay here, I mean…." He trailed off, unable to break the silence.

Bella actually snorted at this. How could someone _understand _turning down an escape attempt in favour of staying at Azkaban? You truly would have to be mental.

Eventually, she managed to finds her voice.

"Where did you get that?" She, of course knew that of the Marauders, but they had already graduated Hogwarts when she joined her first year.

Immediately, Harry's face perked up again, a grin lit his features and his eyes danced with mischief and, strangely, pride.

"Padfoot gave it to me." He waited for her reaction. Sirius had told him that even the Slytherin's had had a grudging respect for Prongs, Moony and Padfoot with Wormtail, as usual, being looked over. Harry hadn't felt the slightest twinge of sympathy for the man. He had betrayed his parents. In his eyes, Pettigrew deserved everything he got. He was also sure that this respect for the Marauders would have instantly disappeared had they known their true identities.

Harry wasn't disappointed. Bellatrix's eyes widened slightly as she recalled that _Professor _Padfoot had been one of the Marauders.

Bellatrix quickly made some deductions in her head. They were simple, but after being in Azkaban for an indefinite amount of time, the simplest task become the most difficult, with everything else being impossible.

"So, this means that at least one of the Marauders was an animagus, and that you, possibly, know this Padfoot?"

Harry nodded. "Yes and yes. 3 of the Marauders were animagus. They decided to become animagus because one of them, Moony, was a werewolf," Bella gasped at this, "hence the nickname. Also yes, I do know Padfoot, so do you. I am also very familiar with Moony, I have met Wormtail, though I hate him, and Prongs," he paused, "Prongs is dead."

Bella was surprised. The emotion in Harry's voice was threatening to break through and she had a suspicion that Harry knew these people much better than he was letting on, and apparently she even knew one of them!. Despite this, she decided to change the subject.

"Why have you brought it?"

"For reference." The response was blunt so he continued. "I have already read the book from cover to cover. Twice. I figured it wouldn't hurt to bring here to refer to when I'm planning my master escape."

Bella nodded, feeling pretty stupid for asking such a ridiculous question. He obviously wouldn't bring a book unless he planned on reading or using it to escape.

She pondered for a moment, before asking what she hoped was a more educated question.

"Are you an animagus? Can you transform?" Alright, it was two questions, but they meant the same thing.

"No not yet, I was just about to start when I was arrested." A dark look flashed over his eyes before the mischief quickly returned. "Which is good, because that means we can start at the same level. You won't need to read the book, I will explain everything as we go along."

She nodded again, silently asking him to continue, to which he complied.

"Okay, before this book was written, there were two main, widely practiced methods for finding one's form. The first was a potion that causes a patronus like being to appear, in whatever form the drinkers animagus will be. It also says somewhere," he said this whilst flicking through the book, "that your patronus can be used as as a rough guess to what your form will be, though this is not always the case, it can be completely unrelated."

Bella could see the sense in this statement. After all, patronuses are supposed to reflect upon someone's personality. She began to roll over possibilities of what her form could be in her head.

"The second method is a dream diary. This method is not used as much as the potion method, despite the potion being ridiculously difficult to brew as well as it being expensive. For the dream diary, one would simply record their dreams for a certain amount of time, however usually this takes a lot of patience. A person would rarely find their form this way within the first six months, and can sometimes take years of recording dreams."

This idea didn't excite Bella at all, they had all the time in the world, but what were they supposed to record their dreams on? The wall?

"Fortunately for us, the Marauders found another way. Due to the fact that we are hardly in a position to brew a notoriously difficult potion, and the fact the we have no access to ingredients, we cannot use the first method. Again, we have a problem with the second method-" He was cut off by Bellatix.

"We can't write our dreams down anywhere."

"Indeed. Also, I don't think our dreams would reflect out personalities accurately enough with the Dementors around. Lastly, although we have enough time, I want to be out of here as soon as possible. I don't fancy going insane."

Bellatrix was beginning to warm up to the young man in front of her. She enjoyed his dry wit and strange sense of humour. Not to mention the fact that his eyes would probably never lose their bright colour and sharpness, no matter how many years he spent here in Azkaban.

She had already witnessed that his eyes could portray more emotions in a second than most could in a minute. From the shock to anger to confusion when he first recognised her, to the glint the held now.

She was drawn back to reality by Harry's voice.

"So that leaves us with the Marauder's third option. Meditation." She couldn't help it, she scoffed. Luckily, Harry either didn't notice, or didn't care. "With enough time, I am confident that we can figure out our forms."

"But Harry," she questioned, "don't you need to find some sort of peace when meditating? That will be tricky when we're _here_"

"Yes, it does require a certain amount of calm." Harry replied, completely serious. "But, like I said, I think we can do it."

For the next few hours, Harry explained what was needed for the meditation to work, occasionally checking thing in the big book he had brought with him. With the explanations came questions though, and Bellatrix wasn't one to hold back.

By the end of the question and answer session, both were exhausted from all of the excitement from recent events.

Harry's first night in Azkaban was not pleasant. The only reassuring thing he could find from his dreadful night's sleep was that he was correct about his dream dairy theory. There was no way someone would be able to find their forms using that method whilst in these walls.

Bellatrix was still sleeping silently when he work on the hard, bumpy ground. Aiming to pass the time, Harry began what he could of the physical workout he had begun doing before he was arrested. He usually started with a run, but since he couldn't do that here, he settled for two minutes of star-jumps followed straight away by two minutes of running on the spot. After this he gave himself thirty seconds so regain his breath before launching into press-ups. At his current level, he could do fifty with no problems, so he pushed seventy-five, before turning over and beginning to do sit- ups.

By this time, Bellatrix was awake and observing silently, woken by his soft panting after the two minute jogging.

She counted one hundred sit-ups before he again turned over and resumed press-ups. However, when he reached what must have been twenty, she had lost count early on, he began to put a clap once he had pushed his body weight of the ground. This cycle continued for what seemed like an age before Harry noticed that Bella was watching him. He stopped and, wiping the light sheen of sweat on his brow, greeted her.

"Morning." He was blunt, but got the message across. She liked that. She replied similarly.

After a short, comfortable silence, Harry spoke again.

" I think we should get started."

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A week had passed since Harry and Bella had begun meditating and they had slipped into a routine. Harry would nearly always woke before Bella and begun his exercises. Bella said that she found sleeping easier since Harry had arrived and put it down to the Dementors giving them a wider margin. The reality was that Bella took comfort in the fact that Harry was sleeping beside her, only a few feet away, but she was in no position to tell him that.

Harry would continue his exercise until Bella woke up, or he was too exhausted to carry on. Following this, the begun to prepare their minds for meditation, whilst the muck that qualified as food was pushed through the doorway. The pair then dedicated the bulk of the day to their task, figuring the quicker they find their forms the quicker they will be able to transform.

They would break when dinner, or maybe it was breakfast, was pushed through the door. Bellatrix would then take this opportunity to learn more about Harry, and occasionally, Harry would ask a few questions of his own, but since Bella was still coming to terms with her past, he didn't ask too many. Bella was surprised that Harry talked about his past so freely, and when she asked about why this was, he shrugged and said "I moved on". They shared tales about their life at Hogwarts and home life, but Bella returned Harry's gesture and didn't ask too many questions here, as, despite his claim to have 'moved on' she could still sense some trepidation about discussing his relatives. These talks often lasted long into the night, or morning, and after the meditation, which was surprisingly taxing, left them both exhausted. Over the past few nights, they had both often fallen asleep sitting next to each other, leaning against the side of the cell.

After a week and a half, Bellatrix was just starting to find that calm place inside her, though Harry, having found his 'happy place' three days earlier, figured is was harder for her as she had spent longer in Azkaban than him, as well as the fact that the guilt for the atrocities that she had committed, forced or not, was hanging over her head.

Harry was happy to learn that she was making progress and moving past her guilt. He himself had experienced problems in his meditating, mostly his anger at Ron and Hermione, but he had managed to dampen down all of his negative emotions, with the help of his Occlumency, and now, instead of an inferno, his anger was quietly simmering deep in his mind. He was sure though, that given the right circumstances, with the right stimulus, his anger would flare right back to the inferno it was before, however, he was also confident that he would be able to manipulate his emotions back into the simmering pool when he the stimulus were removed.

Bellatrix had finally come to terms with her past actions. She had accepted any wrong doings that she had willingly done, which was a surprisingly low amount, and, with some encouragement form Harry in their evening talks, she had reluctantly, and slowly, begun to move on from anything that she had done whilst under the influence of Rodolphus and Voldemort. In a way, she was glad that she was learning to move on, all she wanted was for that to be put in the past, as selfish as that seems.

All in all, they were making progress.

**A/N: So Harry and Bellatrix are taking a leaf out of Sirius' book and escaping by becoming animagi. Any ideas for forms? I'm thinking that Harry might have two different ones for reasons that will become clear later on, but any ideas for Bella? I'm open for suggestions. Anyway, drop a review whilst you're here, only takes a few seconds. Go on. Do it. Thanks for reading.**


	6. Chapter 6

Unlike the other cells in the maximum security block of Azkaban, where all that was heard was whimpering and the occasional agonised scream, the two occupants of this cell could have often been heard chatting animatedly, if there was anyone nearby sane enough to register the sound of a voice.

Strangely, these frequent talks were separated by long periods of inactivity, in which not a sound came out of the cell.

Inside though, the cell was far from inactive.

It was during one of these silent periods that Harry and Bellatrix were sitting side-by-side, each in a variation of the lotus position.

Both Harry and Bellatrix had worked almost impossibly hard over the past two months of their animagus 'quest' but after the first week of Harry's incarceration, things in cell V554 slowed down.

Now, both inhabitants of Azkaban were about to start one of their final meditation sessions.

Harry looked over towards Bellatrix, who was sitting less than six inches away. Seeing the serene look on her face was the only sign that he needed to identify that Bellatrix had entered the state of meditation.

It had taken a while to be able to slip into their calm states as quickly as they do now, but now, both Harry and Bella were able to enter their special place with little to no work on their part.

It wouldn't be long before Harry would be able to attempt his first full transformation, and Bella wasn't far behind him either. He chuckled to himself as he remembered the pride he had felt when he found his form.

_**Flashback**_

_As he slipped into the meditative state that he had become so attuned to, Harry immediately felt a change._

_He was no longer looking at the calm void of his mind as nothing more than some sort of ethereal being. Instead, that blankness had been replaced by the rolling sea of golden-yellow grass that was swaying slightly in the soft breeze that he felt flowing through the air. Turning his head, he noticed the blankness of the landscape, the same golden grass continuing on for, what seemed like, forever. He could feel the heat in the air around him, which wasn't out of place considering the cloudless blue sky that permitted the Sun's rays to bleach the ground. From his position in the shade from under the lone Y-shaped tree, Harry was safe from the harsh rays. Suddenly he got the urge to search for the rest of his pride._

'_Wait, my pride?'_

_It was only now that he realised that he was alone. A sense of helplessness settled over him. He had never been without his females!_

'_What's happening? My females?'_

_A lethargic state slowly overrode his panic and he settled down, letting his head rest on his front paws._

_Finally, it came to him. He had entered the next stage of meditation! He was experiencing his form in the habitat in which it lived. _

_With this revelation, he shook off the laziness in his bones, which he put down to some sort of instinct and rose onto all four of his recently changed paws. Slowly he began to move forwards out of the shade of the tree, which he couldn't identify. As soon as the sun hit his back, he felt the intense heat, before it settled and became comforting warmth. Still moving forward he began to gain confidence and picked up the speed. Soon he found himself prowling across the plains, the grass tickling the padded undersides of his paws. He continued at this leisurely pace for what seemed like hours before he spotted another tree in the two-tone landscape of gold and blue. As he got closer he recognised other figures rising from the shade, two of these came over to him and nuzzled his mane._

'_Mane? Hang on, I'm a lion!'_

_He stood stock still during this mental deliberation, staring intently at the other male of this pride. He felt his instincts begin to take over and he let them, content to sit back and watch. The other male bared his teeth and growled low in this throat._

'_Probably because I'm with his lionesses.' Harry thought to himself. _

_However, it seemed that Harry wasn't one to back off and he returned the growl, lowering his stance slightly, so that he would be ready to pounce._

_The females had backed off, realising the danger in the current situation._

_Harry began to take in the appearance of the other male. He wasn't huge, so it wasn't likely that he was the Alpha-male in this pride, but Harry could still see the rippling muscle under the coat of the lion. Another thought struck him, if this wasn't the Alpha-male, then who was? Where was he? _

_Suddenly, he was snapped out of his thoughts by the other male roaring loudly, showing of his large canines. Harry returned the roar eagerly and just as loudly, if not more so. This was enough for the other male and he leaped forward, swiping at Harry's jaw with his now extended claws. Harry raised his head just fractionally, so his opponents paw glanced the underside of his mouth, drawing a slight amount of blood._

_The smell of blood was all the incentive Harry needed and he launched a powerful swipe at the side of the other lions head. It was impossible to dodge, so the other lion moved his head, going with the direction of the swipe, in the hopes of cushioning the blow. It only worked slightly and instead of being a knock-out blow like it was intended to be, it only pushed him back a few meters. However, this gave Harry room to pounce and he jumped onto the top of opponent's head, attempting to fasten his jaws over his neck. Unfortunately, the magnificent mane obstructed his view and the other male was able to shake him off, landing a blow to his flank as he did so._

_The two lions began circling each other, searching for a weakness or a point of attack._

_Finally, Harry found one. He barged into the side of the other male, knocking him over. Before he had a chance to rise, Harry leaped onto his exposed underside. The other male snapped at his paws but was unable to move. Then, just as he was about the snap again, Harry caught his opponent's lower jaw in his own and began to munch on it, ignoring the agonised roars that were being given off. He yanked his jaws away, pulling the other jaw with him, before he dealt a blow to the now exposed throat of the former proud lion, killing him instantly. He pushed the corpse out into the sun and settled down in the shade to clean his wounds._

_The two females that were there were joined by the other three that had stayed lying down when Harry entered the camp, and they made their way over to nuzzle Harry. _

_After licking his coat clean, with the help of his new lionesses, one thing became clear._

_He was the Alpha-male here now._

_**End Flashback**_

Bella had been so pleased when Harry told her of his recent outing as a lion that she gave him hug that would have rivalled Molly Weasley, which was a huge feat, especially taking in the fact that Bella has been in Azkaban for who knows how long.

It wasn't all bad though, as, just when Harry thought his eyes would pop out and his ribs crack, Bella loosened her grip and relaxed into Harry, causing Harry to return the embrace. They had stayed like that, in comfortable silence, for so long that they fell asleep.

That had been Harry's best morning in Azkaban because, although he still hadn't admitted it, even to himself, he had a bit of a crush on Bella.

The new state of meditation became the norm for Harry. Similar 'dreams' had occurred every session, varying from hunting herds of zebra to just wandering the savannah with his pride. After a week of consecutive visions, he was convinced that his form was a lion.

Bella had also reached the second stage of the meditation and was originally having trouble deciphering her form, but with a little help from Harry she could have a firm guesstimate at what her form was.

_**Flashback**_

"_Harry?"_

_He looked down at Bella, who was laying down next him._

"_I don't know what my form is. I keep having the 'visions'," she said, making quotation marks in the air with her first two fingers, "but I don't know what animal I am."_

_Harry pondered this for a moment before coming to a conclusion._

"_Tell me what happens, perhaps I can help you."_

_Bellatrix smiled before agreeing._

"_It's always night time. I'm flying really, really high. When I first looked at my body, I thought there was nothing there, but now I can see that I am just black. I can't see myself against the night sky, just a slight sheen on what, I presume, are my feathers."_

_Again Harry though about this and started suggesting birds that are black._

"_A crow?"_

_She shook her head. "I don't think so."_

"_A raven?"_

_Another shake._

"_An owl?"_

_Shake._

_He suggested a few more, which all received a shake of the head, before asking Bella to describe the instincts that she feels when she is experiencing the life of her inner animal._

"_I always get the urge to sing. Loudly. I always feel better when I sing and I feel as if the whole world has stopped to listen to me sing." She blushed cutely. "The only other thoughts going through my mind when I'm flying are joy, deep joy, and sorrow. I feel really happy, but also unbelievably sad at the same time. Sometimes, if I concentrate, I can see fire. Lots and lots of fire. It's a bright flame, almost an inferno, that jus that a tinge of black in it, almost as if it isn't natural."_

_The singing part of Bella's thoughts put a firm thought into Harry's mind as to what her form was, and the fire aspect only cemented that. A phoenix. Bella was a phoenix. Is it possible to get black phoenixes? It is now._

_**End Flashback**_

After this, Harry and Bella had once again fallen asleep together, and neither were complaining.

Almost a week later, Harry's visions changed. Instead of the hot savannah, he was now in a dark, damp and dirty forest. It was cold and he was slithering across the ground, making it obvious that he was some sort of snake, and a large one, at least twice the girth of Nagini, though only slightly longer. This was confirmed when he spotted a forked tongue poke out and taste the air.

Could this mean that Harry had two forms? As far as he knew, and his knowledge on animagus was quite extensive dew to his reading up on the subject, such a thing had only been reported twice before in known history.

So Harry had been experiencing two different visions. One was almost certainly a lion, and one was a snake of some sort.

The type of snake was identified when Harry experienced hunting as the snake. Except is wasn't really hunting.

In the forest there were all sorts of creature, both non-magical and magical. A lone doe was trotting through a copse of trees when Harry was hunting and he began pursuing said doe. Whatever Harry was expecting was blown away when he caught up without making a sound. Suddenly, he hissed, drawing the doe's attention. He looked the doe in the eye and it dropped dead, stiff as a plank.

Harry was a basilisk!

Obviously he wasn't as big as the one from the Chamber of Secrets, which was almost a thousand years old, but the capability to kill with just a look was terrifying. He was drawn from this by the feeling of his jaws suddenly opening. He took the doe into his mouth whole, before injecting it with his venom. Within seconds, he felt the doe start to break down and he swallowed it.

Harry hadn't got to sleep with special arrangements that night, despite Bella's joy at him having two forms. The reason for this being that, after discovering that they both enjoyed it, they slept in each other's arms every night now anyway.

To Harry's relief, the next night, he discovered that, on top of the thin layer of clear scales on his eyes that every snake has, he had clear screens that came down over his eyes, similar to eyelids, that prevented his killer glare from… err… killing.

Harry thought back to yesterday. He had just finished meditating, when he noticed that instead of his hands and feet, he had four sandy coloured paws, each complete with claws. At first he panicked, but Bella calmed him down so that he could focus on changing back. He concentrated on what his hands and then feet looked like before the said limb extremities suddenly felt like they were melting, before the paws were replaced by hands and feet.

He could now change his hands at will into paws, and he was almost able to change his feet as well.

Harry was finally pulled out of his reminiscing to notice that Bella was still meditating next to him. He shuffled over slightly and joined her.

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_**Hours Later**_

Harry felt good! He was proud, magnificent and undeniably beautiful. He looked down, noticing the golden paws again; only the golden fur didn't stop there this time, it continued up towards his shoulders and neck. He then realised that he was an all-fours. He turned his head to the side to get view if bushy mane that was somewhat reminiscent of Hermione and a golden flank. Beyond that he caught sight of a swishing tail.

He tried to exclaim, but it came out as a roar, stirring Bellatrix from her meditations.

With a slightly irritated expression she began asking, "What are you… oh."

Her irritation was replaced by an ear-to-ear grin as she realised what had happened.

"You're beautiful!" she breathed in awe.

She began to approach Harry slowly, hand extended, aware that his lion instincts could make this dangerous.

Currently, Harry was trying furiously to suppress such instinct, but eventually he knew he was going to lose this battle, so he tried to let off his desire to eat the human, in an ear-splitting roar.

Bella jumped back in surprise, before she realised what he had done. She smiled again before again reaching out to run her fingers through his mane.

The feline in Harry enjoyed the stroking of his coat, and, now that he had successfully rounded up his lion instincts, he settled down to enjoy the stroking from Bella.

"I think you should try and change back now Harry." Again, her voice was nowhere above a whisper.

He growled his agreement before he concentrated on turning back to his human form. The melting feeling returned before he felt himself standing once again on two legs. It wasn't to last though, as he felt himself fall flat on his face from the change in his centre of gravity. He didn't get a chance to get up though as he was ambushed by a raven haired maiden.

Bellatrix engulfed him into another strong hug, all the while beaming up at him.

Harry suddenly felt a strong urge to do something. He leaned down and gently touched his lips to hers, only enough force was applied for it to seem as if a feather was tickling his lips, but the taste if her lips against his was unbelievable.

After a second he pulled back, to meet the astonished eyes of Bellatrix. He blushed a deep red, before stammering out something about his lion instincts. He failed to notice the huge grin on Bella's face though as she pulled him back towards her before once again their lips connected. Both their eyes slid shut as they engaged in a slow, passionate kiss that resembled a waltz. A good minute passed before they separated. Staring into each other's eyes, they slowly fell asleep, with Bella lying on Harry's chest and his arms holding her close.

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Four days later, Bella made her break through. She was startled from her meditations by a shrill, but relaxing, call. She opened her eyes, only to realise is was her that was making the noises. She looked down a short black beak towards her feathered body. Her black feathers sparkled in the half-light that permeated the barred hole in the door. Turning to Harry, who was still meditating, she pecked him softly on the finger.

Nothing.

She pecked him again, a bit more forcefully.

Still nothing.

Just as she was about to peck him again, his body began blurring. She turned away, retreating to the other side of the cell. When she turned back Harry was gone and the biggest snake she had ever seen was in his place. Then she remembered that this was a basilisk.

'Don't look at his eyes. Don't look at his eyes.'

Although Harry had told her about his discovery of his 'eyelids', she doubted that he would be able to recognise his surroundings and the fact that he was in basilisk form for him to lower them straight away. On top of this, she had also transformed, which would only serve as a further distraction.

She continued to look at the wall until he felt a soft finger stroking her silky feathers. She turned her head to see Harry staring at her in awe, mirroring her look from when he first transformed into a lion. She cocked her head slightly in amusement before concentrating on herself as a human.

She experienced the melting sensation before she was once again her in her five-foot-eight body. She could still feel Harry's finger stroking against her upper-arm. She coughed, causing him to start and break out of his trance, a light blush touching his cheeks.

She decided to make it up to him and threw her arms round his neck. She began to rise towards his lips before he stopped her.

"Bella, stop." He paused to collect his thoughts before continuing. "Do you care about this?"

Bellatrix was having trouble understanding this poorly worded question so he decided to elaborate.

"Do you care that we are doing this and you are twelve years older than me?"

A hurt look flashed across her face before she covered it up.

"No. I don't care. Why? Do you?"

Harry let out a breath he didn't realise he was holding.

"No… no I don't care"

Her beautiful eyes lit up at this and he leaned down to her waiting lips.

He smiled into the kiss as he thought, 'Of all people, I can't believe I'm falling for Bellatrix Black'


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Haven't had one of these in while so I thought that I would remind everyone out there that I don't own Harry Potter.**

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Bellatrix and Harry were probably the happiest people in Azkaban. Well, as close as you can get to happy whilst encased in the grimy stone walls.

A week had passed since Bella had first transformed and Harry had changed into his second form. Both were now able to change into their given animals almost instantaneously now, after all, practice makes perfect, and they had plenty of time to practice whilst they were in Azkaban.

They had chosen to wait until they tried to escape, in order for them to hone their skills with their forms. They had to make the most of their only advantage.

Sure, Harry did know a bit about wandless magic, he even discovered he had a natural talent for the subject during the private studies that he was under taking before he was unceremoniously thrown into prison. However, no amount of affinity for wandless magic would bypass the magic suppression wards and runes that affected the prisoners, and even he could overcome said problems, he wasn't at the level to cast a patronus wandlessly, he didn't even know if it was possible!

It was because of this that they were relying on the animagus forms. Harry didn't like to put all of his eggs in one basket, as the Muggles would say, especially after the farce of a trial and subsequent betrayal, but he had no choice.

He turned to face the figure that was sleeping beside him.

'She looks so peaceful,' he thought. 'Wow that's cliché.' He chuckled at his internal ramblings. If he didn't know that the Dementors presence hadn't been affecting him since he first set foot on the island, he might have thought he was slowly going insane.

Harry and Bella's hadn't progressed very far physically in their relationship over the last week, instead choosing to get to know each other better.

They told each other stories from their childhood, times at Hogwarts and what each other's thoughts were on certain issues and people. Most of the latter subject revolved around Dumbledore, and occasionally Voldemort, but they didn't broach either of these subject often, since Harry would have trouble containing his anger.

Harry had learnt that Bellatrix had grown up in a Black property out in the country. Her and her two sisters, Andromeda and Narcissa, were as close as they come. They did everything together, even after Andromeda was sorted into Ravenclaw at Hogwarts.

It turned out that Bella was almost as close with Sirius as she was with her sisters. The tree girls and their mother used to frequently visit the Black mansion in Grimmauld place, which, Harry was told, was much more glorious in those days than it is now. Sirius always used to play with her despite being almost nine years older. She always wanted an older brother, and he fit the position perfectly.

She told him how she forced into marrying Rodolphus Lestrange. She had touched on this subject when she was giving Harry her story of how she ended up in the prison, but she gave more detail this time, how she had told him that she didn't love him, how he was initially angry, but then, in his own words, realised that he could 'never force myself on someone who didn't love me, even if I love them.'

She told him how her husband was the closest thing she had to a friend whilst she was forced into forcing the Dark Lord. Andromeda had been disowned, Narcissa had been told not to talk to her, instead told to be the perfect trophy wife for Lucius Malfoy. On top of this, Sirius, as well as being disowned from the Black family, hated her. He didn't know that she had no choice but to do as ordered.

In return , Harry had told her everything he could remember about his childhood. His abuse and neglect at the Dursley's, the way he was ignored when he tried to warn Professor McGonagall about the Philosophers Stone, how he was dubbed the Heir of Syltherin in second year, how Dumbledore had told Harry that a dangerous mass murderer was after him in third year, despite knowing that said 'murderer' was innocent.

How he was forced into the Triwizard tournament in forth year, which climaxed in Cedric Diggory's death and Harry, duelling, getting tortured by and being placed under the Imperious Curse by the Dark Lord himself.

Next, he told of how no had written to him over the summer before his fifth year, not one letter. He returned to school only to find that the Daily Prophet had been slighting him all summer, calling him a liar. No one believed him.

He told of his torture sessions with Umbitch and how Dumbledore had avoided him like the plague. How his 'friends' had slowly started avoiding him around Christmas, after he had the dream about Nagini and Mr. Weasley, and his dreadful sessions with Snape in the dungeons. Bella had gasped at this, but told him to carry on.

These sessions and his loss of support from his friends had been what caused him to withdraw to the library most nights, studying.

He then got to how he, Luna and Neville, who seemed to be his only friends left, had travelled to the Department of Mysteries. He told Bella what happened, every detail, since she could remember none of it.

Finally, he got to his trail. How he had been accused of murdering his Uncle, Aunt and cousin, whom he hadn't even known were dead.

He had never told anyone about his memories so thoroughly before.

Bella had been their next to him as he broke down into silent tears. She held him close until he managed to pull himself together. This only brought them closer.

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It was the next night and their plan to escape was about to be sprung.

Harry was pacing in the small cell, his nerves getting the better of him, despite his Occlumency techniques.

"Harry, you're going to wear a rut in the ground if you don't stop pacing."

The soothing voice broke through his scattered thoughts. Bella could always calm him when he got worked up. He sighed.

"Yeah, you're right." He slumped down next the petite woman, who snuggled into his side.

"The Dementors feeding time is almost over, we can leave soon." Bella said, excitement leaking into her voice.

Harry cracked a smile. He was looking forward to the fresh air and freedom that would come with getting out of this cell. He was certain he was beginning to go stir crazy.

The minutes passed in silence, the anticipation in the air was so thick you could smell it.

Soon, the screams that were coming from the cells nearby gave way to whimpers, signalling the Dementors had stopped feeding, sure enough, two small bowls of slop was pushed through the bars to the cell.

The Dementors had long since abandoned their cell, when they found that they were unable to feed off of the occupants. Harry was unaffected, and he did everything he could to protect Bella from the ghostly aura that was emitted, and if it ever got too much, Bella would transform into the black phoenix.

The gruel lay untouched as both Harry and Bella prepared to execute their master plan. In all honesty, their escape plan seemed almost too simple, too easy.

Bella transformed into the beautiful bird and perched on Harry's shoulder, who was now standing.

Harry took a moment to check that the Dementors were far enough away before giving the all clear.

Bellatrix had only ever used the phoenix method of travel to travel short distances. The first time was accidental and she only ended up a few centimetres from where she started. The second time was much more successful. She managed to flash from one side of the cell to the other. She had practiced for weeks after that, but she never ventured outside the cell, in case she was unable to get back.

So this was the first time that she would go outside. The plan was for her to transport both herself and Harry down to just outside the prison gates, at which point Harry would transform into the lighter basilisk form and and wrap himself around her legs. Bella would then fly in the general south-western direction, until they reached land, which would be Britain.

Since they knew that the gates to the prison faced south, it wouldn't be a problem figuring out which way to fly. No, the problem was that they weren't sure if Bella could fly all the way to Britain.

"Right, let's do this."

With that Harry grabbed one of Bella's tail feathers and she disappeared in a flash of black flame.

When they reappeared though, it wasn't where they had planned to be. Taking a quick glance around, he noticed that they were still in the prison. However judging by the fact that the prisoners were shouting at them, and were most definitely sane, they were on one of the auror controlled lower floors.

Bella changed back into her human form when she noticed this.

"Harry! What are we going to do?" The panic edging her voice was clear to anyone who was listening.

Before he could answer though, another voice interrupted them.

"HEY! What are you doing out of your cell!"

Harry turned to see an auror standing about 50 feet away, wand drawn.

Before anyone noticed, Harry changed into his lion form and charged at the lone guard. He didn't want to kill him; otherwise he would have just used his basilisk ability. He just remove the auror from the game.

As he got closer the auror turned to run, but was to slow. Harry sliced open his chest with his claws and he fell to the floor, writhing in pain.

He returned to Bella and jerked his head upwards, gesturing to his back. She immediately caught on and climbed onto the magnificent beasts back.

As soon as Harry felt the miniscule weight on his back, he set off. He sprinted as fast as his four legs would carry him, navigating the narrow passageways with ease. To any onlookers, he would appear to be a golden blur. He could feel his muscles tensing and relaxing with every stride, rippling under his pelt.

Harry followed the passages until he came to the main flight of stairs in the centre of the fortress.

He flew down and down and down, past countless amounts of floors, all full of cells.

'I thought we were lower than this considering the lack of Dementors where we were.' He mused. He was brought back to reality though when the reached the bottom. Looking around, he noticed that they were in a huge hall, the same hall that he was brought in through. Looking towards the vast double doors in front of him, he noticed that there was a guards post there. The aurors inside had obviously noticed him as well, since they were fumbling around, presumable trying to draw their wands.

Harry once again marvelled at the incompetence of some Ministry employees, before pouncing on the group that had just come outside of the separate guards building.

A slash and a swat with a paw later and there were five bleeding people rolling around on the floor.

Bella quickly jumped off of Harry and made her way into the room to open the doors that led to freedom.

When they slowly started to creep open, she came back. She didn't climb back on though, instead choosing to walk.

The light outside was blinding. Both Bella and Harry, who was now back in his human form had to shield their eyes. After spending all of their time in a dark, dank cell, even the dark grey, almost balck sky was too bright for their sensitive retinas.

Bella laughed happily at being outside again, and Harry couldn't help but let out a small smile.

"We aren't done yet, Bella. Come on."

With that he transformed into a basilisk, making sure to keep his inner 'eyelids' firmly closed. As Harry had grown more confident in his basilisk form, he was able to manoeuvre much faster. He was still huge for a normal snake, easily bigger than Nagini and weighing just less than a person, but he was small in comparison to other Basilisks that he had read about over the years.

Apparently, the basilisk that was in the Chamber of Secrets, which was about 60ft long, was only about average in terms of length, with the biggest that was ever recorded being around 130ft. The scary thing was that it was still alive somewhere, since basilisks don't just die of old age.

Seeing that Harry had changed, Bella also changed into her phoenix form.

Harry coiled his head and the first 50cm of his length around Bella's legs and then allowed he to grab his tail in her talons, to prevent it dangling ridiculously low. The end result looked somewhat like a huge hangman's noose hanging in mid-air.

Bella leaped into the air, which was quite an achievement considering her legs were essentially bound together.

She had no trouble lifting Harry's weight, due to that fact that phoenixes could carry a huge load.

Bella carefully angled herself diagonally away from the prison, heading south-west, before flying forward, as steadily as she could, trying not to think of the huge journey ahead of her.

**A/N: Well there's chapter 7. Sorry for the long gap in updating this story, I have been working on my other story and since haven't had a chance to update this chapter. I hope you are all enjoying it, but I would appreciate some feedback! I've had 10,179 hits on this story but only 18 reviews. That's not very many. Anything will be appreciated, just review! Thanks for reading.**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: New chapter. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter… Obviously.**

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Bella and Harry had underestimated the distance from Azkaban to the western coast of Britain. Instead of the predicted four to five hours of flying that both Harry and Bellatrix had predicted, strong winds had forced Bella to have to fly for almost twelve.

As soon as Bella was low enough to the ground, she dropped Harry, who turned back to his human form to land his feet, and immediately landed, also changing back.

"Ha… Ha… Harry!" She managed to force out between taking huge gulps of air, before promptly passing out from exhaustion.

"Bella!" Came the concerned call as she fell backwards.

Despite the fact that Harry had secretly always wanted to catch the beautiful damsel in distress as she fainted, he didn't. Although he should have been expecting it, considering the twelve hour flight and the fact that Azkaban doesn't provide an excellent meal service, his shock prevented him from moving.

He picked her up, bridal style, and carried her off of the rocky beach that they had landed on, heading toward the treeline about a hundred metres away.

'She doesn't look like she is going to be waking up any time soon.' He thought, looking down at the bundle in his arms.

Following this thought, he decided that they would make some sort of make-shift camp. Setting Bella down on a relatively dry bit of ground, he began collecting leaves and pine-needles from the nearby trees to act as bedding. Unfortunately, this was the extent of Harry's survival knowledge and settled for huddling against some trees and each other, whilst lying on the bedding.

With that, he lay Bella down on the 'bed', moved up beside her and linked her arms around her, holding her body to his. He shut his eyes, hoping for a dreamless sleep.

He was asleep within seconds.

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In the next two days not much had happened. Bella had been barely conscious for the first day and a half but Harry had problems of his own. Namely, food.

He had puzzled over this for a while before coming to a conclusion. Hunting had been the only option. However, he was unable to cast the Killing Curse without a wand, and had never actually tried it, even with a wand. An explosion of crushing curse was also out of the question, since he wanted his food to be edible, and he was rather sure Bella would too. This only left small curses and charms, such as the cutting curse, but in his weakened state, he wasn't sure he would be able to pull it off, especially since he was only really adept at best in his wandless magic studies.

Finally, an idea struck him, powered by his growing hunger. He was unsure if it would work or not, but he was where he would really test his Legilimency skills.

His plan was to force his way into whatever animals mind, and then possess it. He would then place an instruction to kill itself **(A/N2: Don't ask me how, I don't have a clue)**. The instruction would be like an itch, the more it is ignored, the more annoying it will become.

An hour and a half later, Harry returned to the camp carrying a rabbit. A quick gathering of wood and an _incendio _later, Harry was chewing on a surprisingly tasty rabbit.

During the time between his hunting and Bella waking up, he had spent all his time at her side, whilst practicing his wandless magic. Every curse, hex and jinx that he could cast with a wand, he was able to reproduce without, although it took a lot of energy to perform such feats. Despite this though, he could perform any charm he could think of, and many more that he had read up on, within 3 tries wandlessly, as well as being able to accomplish advanced transfiguration, also wandlessly.

However, although he could perform exceedingly well with charms and transfiguration, he still needed to work on his magical stamina, that had been what he had been working on before he got sent to Azkaban, so he continued there.

With Bella waking up came another hunting trip, and Bella had sworn that Harry was going to be doing all the cooking from that moment on.

Shortly after this, Harry brought up the topic of what they were going to do now.

"I've been wondering the same thing."

At Harry's look of shock, she explained.

"Just because I've been to Azkaban before does not mean I'm an expert on being on-the-run you know!"

Harry immediately looked slightly ashamed before recovering.

"Right. Sorry Bella. The only thing I can think of that is needed is a wand but that's not completely urgent."

Nodding, Bella replied. "Yeah, I know someone in Knockturn Alley who custom builds wands for all of her customers. That's where I got my old one from."

They discussed wands and wand holsters for a while before Bella brought another issue to their attention.

"Harry, we need robes as well, and we can't exactly go to Madam Malkin's."

"I know. But we don't have to get robes." Harry responded, a grin spreading across his face.

Bella stared at him incredulously. "What? We can't just go around in these filthy things!"

Harry laughed. Then laughed some more. It wasn't even that funny, but he couldn't stop laughing. When he finally calmed down he said, "I said we didn't need robes, not we weren't going to buy knew clothes. We are going to go Muggle shopping!" He finished with a dramatic wave of his hand, but Bella remained sceptical.

"Trust me you will love it. From what I've heard, women love their shoes, correct?"

With a snort, Bella replied, "You could say that."

"Well I know for a fact that the Muggle world has whole shops dedicated to shoes, amongst other things."

At this, despite her being a hardened warrior, Bella couldn't help the slight widening of her eyes and the small smile that graced her face at the thought of a big shopping trip.

Harry noticed this and grinned, before saying, "The only problem is getting to Gringotts without being spotted."

"We will sort that out later, but for now we should go to Knockturn Alley and find somewhere to stay. No offence honey, but this place is a pig-sty." She said, accompanied with a sly grin and wink.

Harry laughed, before transfiguring two nearby sticks into thick black cloaks. He handed one to Bella, who looked at Harry in awe.

"W-was that wandless transfiguration?" She asked, near whispering. She knew how much power that was needed for on-the-spot transfiguration, especially wandless.

It was Harry's turn to adopt a sly expression, before he changed to an over-exaggerated look of indifference.

"What can I say? I seem to have inherited my father talent for transfiguration."

"Smart arse!" She swatted his arm. Donning the cloaks, Bella hugged Harry, before pulling both herself and him through side-along apparition.

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"Warn me before you do that next time!" Assisted apparition wasn't comfortable even when prepared for it.

"Sorry." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and a wink for his troubles.

"Right, course you are." He replied. She just winked again.

They had appeared in an alley branching off of Knockturn, which ran parallel with Diagon Alley. Looking around, Harry noticed that the alley they were currently in was even more dank and disgusting than Knockturn.

"Keep close and keep your hood raised." Bella said to him, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"Yes Ma'am." She allowed herself a smile at his poor joke, before slipping back into her stoic expression.

"I'm serious Harry, Knockturn Alley isn't known for its bright cheery people and its happy atmosphere."

"Right," he said, also serious, pushing his hood up to cover his face, "I'll just follow you."

"Good," she replied, satisfied, also pushing her hood up.

With that, they moved out into Knockturn Alley, blending in perfectly.

Bella turned left and began setting a brisk pace, but Harry had no trouble matching it with his longer legs.

After a good five minutes of walking, Bella slowed and leaned towards Harry whispering, "That's the Hippogriff's Talon. It's our only choice of a decent lodging so that where we will be staying." Her tone left no room for arguments, not that Harry had any anyway.

Entering through the rickety door, they found a surprisingly warm interior. It was well lit and had a crackling fire in a huge fireplace.

Moving through the near empty lounge, up to the reception counter, which doubled as a bar, Bella ordered a suite for two. After taking the key, they both moved towards the narrow staircase which led to the rooms.

The suite was nice, but they didn't have chance to admire it since they were both tired and craved sleep.

Undressing, a now naked, Harry decided that a shower could wait until morning. He climbed into bed, and began to wind down.

He was interrupted though by the door opening. Looking over, Bellatrix was framed in the doorway.

"After so long of spending the night with you, I couldn't see the point in stopping." She explained with a fiendish grin.

He returned the expression whilst lifting the covers as a silent invitation in.

Slipping out of the tattered garments, she joined him in the bed, with her bare back pressed against his chest.

Now they could both settle down for the first proper night sleep they had both had in months.

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_Tap! Tap!_

On the bed, two people, a man and a woman, were returning to the waking world, and neither were too happy about it. Or the owl that was causing it.

_Tap! Tap! Tap!_

More anguished groans came from the bed about the loss of sleep, before an elbow to the ribs from Bella caused Harry to reluctantly leave the warmth of the bed and the woman who he had shared it with.

Reaching the window upon which the owl was tapping, Harry allowed the owl in before untying the letter that it held. Ignoring the owl, who had just flown away, Harry just stared at the seal on the envelope.

'That's Gringott's seal…'

His curiosity piqued, he began opening the letter to find a thick sheet of parchment.

Only two lines were written on the sheet.

_This letter is addressed to Hadrian James Potter a.k.a. Harry J. Potter._

_Please place your thumb on the mark below to confirm your identity._

Glancing down, he saw a strange symbol or rune that reminded him of the Celtic knots that he had studied in Muggle primary school.

"Bella."

All he got was a very un-ladylike grunt in reply.

"Bella!"

It seemed that was the feather that broke the camel's back.

"WHAT?"

Harry, despite the circumstances, smirked.

"I see you're not a morning person." The glare he received caused him to sober up. "I just received this letter from Gringotts and I thought I would check it over with you before I do anything you would say was stupid."

"Give it here." She demanded. At his raised eyebrow and his once again smirking face, she sighed exasperatedly. "Please."

His smirk changed to a grin and he gave her the parchment.

It didn't take her long to scan the page, before she handed it back.

"I think you should do it. It's standard procedure for Gringotts high priority customers." She explained.

Doing as he was told, he pressed his thumb into the rune. A sharp pinch bit into said thumb before retreating. Lifting his thumb to his mouth, he sucked the tiny puncture point to stop the small blood flow.

He stared at the paper in shock for a moment as more words formed, replacing the former lines.

_Hadrian James Potter_

_We at Gringotts were sad to see one of our top priority customers get incarcerated and we offer our condolences._

_After the mistake with one Lord Black's 'trail' one would believe that such injustices were no longer as commonplace as they still seem to be._

_Unfortunately, the opinion of us 'creatures of near-human intelligence', to quote the Ministry, is not worth much in the eyes of wizards, so we were unable to aid you in your case._

_The reason for my writing is that we have discovered some discrepancies in your accounts, rather large ones. Add on to this the inheritance that you are yet to claim._

_Lord Black himself has been in almost constant contact with your account manager, Griphook, attempting to gather evidence for you._

_Since we have recently heard of your escape from Azkaban Prison along with one Bellatrix Black, we sent you this summoning to a meeting with myself, Griphook and Lord Black. You may also bring Miss Black as were are familiar with her situation also, but were unable to do anything due to the same reasons as stated above. _

_We hope to see you at your earliest convenience_

_Director Ragnok, Director of Gringotts Bank._

Harry stared at the letter in front of him, his jaw opening and closing like a goldfish.

Bella snatched the paper out of his hand and scanned the page. A short pause later and she burst out laughing.

"That has to be the most sincere letter from a goblin to a wizard in history!"

At Harry's questioning gaze, she explained.

"The Potter family and the Goblins have a strange relationship, probably the closest thing you can get as a friendship. I would think of it as a firm alliance."

He nodded, before something clicked. "Hang on. If that's why they are offering aid, then why are they helping you?"

"I would bet that that it is because they have guessed that we are travelling together, and are therefore offering me help as it will help you. The fact that Black is also a high-priority customer also helps." She said, smiling.

Harry returned the smile.

"Well, I think our earliest convenience is in tomorrow. I fancy lying in bad today, and I'm not eager to put those rags back on." He voiced his opinion on the heap of grey fabric on the floor.

"I can't help but agree." Bella said with a wink and a sultry smile, before walking up to him a planting a kiss full on his lips. As she took control and deepened the kiss, he lifted her up, with her legs wrapped around his waist, and walked blindly towards the bed. As they crashed onto the mattress, they came up for air.

"Yes, I would definitely agree." She clarified, burrowing her head into his chest and wrapping her arms around him.

Harry returned the favour as they both drifted back to sleep.

**A/N3:** **So that is Chapter 8. Hope you liked it. Next chapter is Gringotts, inheritance and meeting Sirius again, amongst other things. Please leave a review and thanks for reading.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: It's been a while since I've updated and I don't really have an excuse for that to be honest. Anyway, as it has been so long, just over a month I think, there will be a recap of the last chapter and then we will get on with chapter 9. Gringotts, inheritance, and a visit back to McGonagall's mini plot. Enjoy the chapter!**

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_Last Chapter_

_Hadrian James Potter_

_We at Gringotts were sad to see one of our top priority customers get incarcerated and we offer our condolences._

_After the mistake with one Lord Black's 'trail' one would believe that such injustices were no longer as commonplace as they still seem to be._

_Unfortunately, the opinion of us 'creatures of near-human intelligence', to quote the Ministry, is not worth much in the eyes of wizards, so we were unable to aid you in your case._

_The reason for my writing is that we have discovered some discrepancies in your accounts, rather large ones. Add on to this the inheritance that you are yet to claim._

_Lord Black himself has been in almost constant contact with your account manager, Griphook, attempting to gather evidence for you._

_Since we have recently heard of your escape from Azkaban Prison along with one Bellatrix Black, we sent you this summoning to a meeting with myself, Griphook and Lord Black. You may also bring Miss Black as we are familiar with her situation also, but were unable to do anything due to the same reasons as stated above._

_We hope to see you at your earliest convenience_

_Director Ragnok, Director of Gringotts Bank._

_Harry stared at the letter in front of him, his jaw opening and closing like a goldfish._

_Bella snatched the paper out of his hand and scanned the page. A short pause later and she burst out laughing._

_"That has to be the most sincere letter from a goblin to a wizard in history!"_

_At Harry's questioning gaze, she explained._

_"The Potter family and the Goblins have a strange relationship, probably the closest thing you can get as a friendship. I would think of it as a firm alliance."_

_He nodded, before something clicked. "Hang on. If that's why they are offering aid, then why are they helping you?"_

_"I would bet that that it is because they have guessed that we are travelling together, and are therefore offering me help as it will help you. The fact that Black is also a high-priority customer also helps." She said, smiling._

_Harry returned the smile._

_"Well, I think our earliest convenience is in tomorrow. I fancy lying in bad today, and I'm not eager to put those rags back on." He voiced his opinion on the heap of grey fabric on the floor._

_"I can't help but agree." Bella said with a wink and a sultry smile, before walking up to him a planting a kiss full on his lips. As she took control and deepened the kiss, he lifted her up, with her legs wrapped around his waist, and walked blindly towards the bed. As they crashed onto the mattress, they came up for air._

_"Yes, I would definitely agree." She clarified, burrowing her head into his chest and wrapping her arms around him._

_Harry returned the favour as they both drifted back to sleep._

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Minerva McGonagall was busy woman. It was a common sight for her to be seen around Hogwarts, Hogsmead and Diagon Alley, so no one thought anything of the fact that she was now walking at a quick pace, almost running in fact, towards the front steps of Gringotts Bank.

After reaching the front doors, and thanking the goblins who manned said doors, she made a beeline straight for the Head Teller's desk.

"I wish to speak to Director Ragnok." She spoke in a firm but respectful voice, knowing that goblins will take advantage of any weaknesses shown, and respect those who do knot show any.

The Head Teller's eyes narrowed slightly as he surveyed the prim and proper human in front of him.

"And why, in Gringott's name, would you presume that you deserve the honour of an audience with the esteemed Director Ragnok?" He spoke with a drawling tone that sounded as if it had come straight from one of the purebloods from the Wizengamot.

After checking over her shoulder, looking rather shifty, especially considering her normal control over her emotions, she leaned in and spoke in an undertone.

"I seek an audience with Sirius Black and I know it almost certain that he is hear with the Director."

The goblin's eyes widened slightly from their narrowed position and his sneer lessened before transforming into a sinister, knowing smirk.

"Very well. Wait here." He said before he toddled off towards a large set of double doors.

After almost fifteen minutes of waiting, the teller returned, looking deadly serious.

"Follow me."

Those words made Minerva smile inwardly as he reminded herself of every school year, where she would speak those exact same words to the nervous and soon-to-be-sorted first years.

Doing as she was told, she followed half a pace behind the goblin, who was setting a brisk pace, despite his tiny legs.

Finally, after entering the same double doors and weaving through a network of tunnels and passageways they reached another set of double doors. However, instead of dark plain wood, every inch of these doors was covered in an encrusted jewel of some sort.

The trained mind of the professor reasoned that this must either be a meeting room for special or rare occasions, such as this meeting; in which case the jewels were there to show off the goblin's obvious wealth, or it was the Directors personal office, where the jewels would be there ton show the power of the head of the goblin state, on top of the wealth.

Pushing the door open, the teller led a slightly awestruck McGonagall in to the cosy interior.

"Minerva McGonagall to see you Director" He said with reverence, before bowing out.

The Director of Ragnok and the leader of the Goblin Nation was a scary creature. His sharp features made you wonder if it was possible for him to smile, whilst his steel grey eyes examined and searched you.

Minerva went through this process before he nodded to himself and spoke in his gravelly voice.

"I have accepted this meeting today because you wish to speak with Lord Black." At McGonagall's nod, he continued. "Lord Black will be here to attend a meeting with myself in less than five minutes. You are welcome to attend until you have said what you need to say, providing Lord Black has no objections, and that you are here for your own reasons, and not representing someone else." At these words, Ragnok's eyes flashed before hardening until they were comparable to flint. There was no room left in Minerva's mind to doubt who the Director was referring to, since she had, on several occasions done the headmaster's bidding. "Once you have done this, you will leave. Understand?"

It had been a long time since she had been spoken too in such a manner, but Ragnok's tone left nothing for discussion, so she swallowed he pride before nodding her head.

At this moment, the door was opened yet again before the same goblin that escorted Minerva walked in, with Sirius Black in tow.

"Lord Sirius Black to see you Director." He once again bowed out before shutting the doors behind him.

Sirius had long since regained the weight that he had lost in Azkaban, but since the imprisonment of his godson, his eyes had once again gained that haunted look. As well as this, large black bags now hung under his eyes, indicating the lack of sleep that he had been experiencing, presumably due to the same reasons that these meeting were held, which Minerva had a suspicion were about said imprisonment of said godson.

"Director." He murmured, his eyes never leaving the professor's.

"Lord Black. Minerva McGonagall is here as she claims she has some important information for us. I have set the conditions, and providing you have no problem, she is to disclose this information to us now."

"As long as she isn't working for the old man." Sirius almost growled, going some way to confirming what these strange meetings were about.

"I'm not. He… he has things that have caused me to lose my confidence, respect and loyalty to him." Despite the stuttering start, she finished strongly, seeming to appease the younger man in front of her.

"Fine. Now what is this 'information' that you want to tell me, er, us."

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Harry and Bellatrix we wide awake. Today was the day that they were to visit Gringotts.

"Right then! Lets go!" Harry's cheerful voice rang out through the apartment that the two had been staying in for the past two nights. It seemed that his words had no effect though since Bella was still tucking the cloak she was wearing as tight as it would go around her body, insuring it would not come undone.

The reason for such measures was that Bella had refused to put on the filthy rags that they had arrived in from Azkaban and was currently naked under the single cloak. Harry didn't mind this one bit to begin with as, especially with the way that she was tucking the cloak tightly around her body, is only seemed to accentuate her womanly assets. However now, his was beginning to get annoyed. He had been ready for almost ten minutes now whilst Bella played with the cloak, and he was itching to go.

"Right I think I'm ready now. Um… no wait." She continued to adjust.

"Bellatrix, I assure you that no one can see anything and, looking at the way you've cocooned yourself in there, it is not going to fall open. As much as I would like it too." He said this completely seriously, except the last part, at which point he was biting back a smirk. Unsuccessfully.

Bellatrix noticed the poorly concealed smirk and swatted his arm. She looked down at her cloak and sighed.

"Let's go then." She said, finally ready.

Harry grinned before waving his hand and both of their hood suddenly became bathed in shadows, with only their eyes visible in the depths of darkness.

"Let me guess. You inherited your mothers talent at charms as well." Bella said sarcastically.

"Tut-tut Bella," Harry said with a smirk, "sarcasm is the lowest form of wit." She again swatted his arm and Harry laughed, a sound which set her stomach flip-flopping. "Yes I did, amongst other things." He said mysteriously.

"Like what?" Bella asked, inwardly amazed at the ease in which he was performing wandless magic.

He didn't reply, instead opting to just tap the side of his nose with his index finger, lifting the shadow charm temporarily, so she could see it. Before she could question what he meant by this, he grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the room and into the Alley.

They reached the junction between Knockturn and Diagon Alley and they strode purposefully, still holding hands, towards the large white building that stood out against the other shops.

Just as they reached the front doors of the goblin-run bank, they opened revealing a haggard Professor McGonagall, looking every bit her age.

Hardly sparing her a glance, Harry and Bella continued into the lobby of the bank and, copying the professor that they had just passed, headed straight for the largest desk in the room. Before they could reach it however, they were stopped by a reasonably senior looking goblin. He gestured for them to follow him and after glancing at one another they obeyed. The trio took the same route that the professor had earlier. After a full minute of walking the goblin spoke.

"I am Head Teller Quickslice. Director Ragnok told me personally that if two heavily cloaked people were to enter the bank to escort them to him immediately." He didn't elaborate on this point.

A few minutes later they reached the jewel incrusted doors, neither guest outwardly fazed by them.

The goblin again introduced the two 'strangers' to the Director before retreating.

Entering the room, the first thing Harry noticed was Sirius staring wide eyed at the door, his eyes once again becoming warm at what he believed was in front of him.

"Harry?" He asked in a weak voice.

Harry responded by walking straight up to his godfather and enveloping him in a strong, manly hug, which Sirius gladly returned.

Dropping the charm on his hood, Harry and Sirius began to chat like old friends, before cough from the smirking director interrupted them.

"It is a pleasure to see you Mr. Potter. Now," he said turning to Bellatrix, "Ms. Black, if you could lower the charm on your hood as well we can begin this meeting."

Sirius, connecting the dots, pulled out his wand as soon as the charm was dropped and had it pointing at Bellatrix's head. Harry was just a quick though at before Sirius was able to let of a curse of any kind, Bella was completely enveloped in his arms, shielded from an angry Sirius.

"Sirius." Harry started. "Until you know the full story, put your wand away."

Sirius grudgingly obeyed and proceeded to listen to Harry's explanation of Bella's story going from how she was enslaved under Rodolphus to how they had struck up a budding relationship in Azkaban, which was now growing into something more.

After Harry finished, Sirius apologised.

"I'm sorry for my actions Bellatrix, but it will take some getting used to that you are now on our side."

"Don't worry Sirius, it would be expected of you." She said with a smile.

"Now, let's get to business." Ragnok interrupted. "I will get straight to the point. Mr. Potter is the heir to the Potter, Peverall and Slytherin lines." He held up a hand to stop the inevitable questions. "Both the Potter and Peverall lines are yours due to blood, but the Slytherin line is due to conquest. Your vanquishing of one Thomas Riddle at the age of one, again at the age of eleven, and again at twelve has given more than enough reason to offer you the title of Slytherin. Despite not being a Lordship, like Potter and Peverall, Slytherin is a very old and influential line. Moving on, the main vaults of all three families, although we do not have an exact amount, is thought to be in the region of 500,000,000 Galleons for both the Slytherin and Peverall vaults, and then slightly more than that at an approximate total of 600,000,000 Galleons for the Potter family vault." Ragnok said all of this in a completely business like manner, ignoring the gob smacked looked on both Harry and Bellatrix.

"Now, on top of this, these families own stocks in many major businesses in both Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley. We have…" He started shuffling papers around, "… Quality Quidditch Supplies, Borgin and Burkes and Ollivander's Wands, to name a few.

"As I mentioned before, you are the heir to these three families, but you are unable to become the head of the family with being emancipated. However in your parents will, the wished for you to be emancipated at fifteen, since you were the heir to at least two Ancient and Noble houses, they were unaware of the conquest over the heir of Slytherin obviously. We are unable to access the will at the moment as it has been sealed, but we are in the process of _un_sealing it."

"Who sealed it?" Harry asked, fighting to keep his emotions in check behind his Occlumency barriers

"We are also working this out as we speak. Carrying on, the will of your parents emancipated you at fifteen so you are legally able to claim your full inheritance now. However, although you are emancipated in the eyes of the law, you are not in the eyes of magic. If you were to try and put on the head of house rings now, you would probably lose your magic. At the best." All three humans paled at this. "To rectify this, I would ask that you return to Gringotts tomorrow so that you can under-go the ritual that is needed to magically emancipate you."

"Hang on, why didn't I have to do this ritual when I became of age?" Sirius couldn't help but jump in.

"That would be because you were emancipated at seventeen, where magic recognises your ascent into adulthood. With Harry, since he is not yet seventeen, it is different. Now I suggest both you and Ms. Black return back to where ever you are staying and we shall continue this discussion tomorrow, after the ritual. Also, some new robes would be good, Ms. Black looks as if she is about to freeze."

Harry burst out into a fit of giggles whilst Bellatrix changed to deep red in colour, shooting death glares at him.

After hugging Sirius goodbye and thanking Ragnok, Harry again put a wandless charm around their hoods, ignoring Sirius' muffled gasp. He then swept Bella off her feet, and carried her out of Gringotts, with her squealing all the way.

When they reached Diagon Alley, he put her down, much to her displeasure, and continued towards their temporary lodgings. His hand never left her waist though, and neither did hers.

**A/N2: So that's chapter nine. Chapter ten should be out soon, before the end of this week at the most. I hope you liked it. Again, I apologise for the long wait, but I can't do much about that now. Leave a review please, I would appreciate it. Thanks for reading.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Wow. It's been a while. I really have no excuse for my tardy updating other than the fact that I never really got round to it. Luckily, some inspiration came to me over the weekend and I decided to crack on with this. I will put another 'Last Chapter' in since it's been over 6 months since my last update. Enough chit-chat.**

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Last Chapter

"As I mentioned before, you are the heir to these three families, but you are unable to become the head of the family with being emancipated. However in your parents will, the wished for you to be emancipated at fifteen, since you were the heir to at least two Ancient and Noble houses, they were unaware of the conquest over the heir of Slytherin obviously. We are unable to access the will at the moment as it has been sealed, but we are in the process of_un_sealing it."

"Who sealed it?" Harry asked, fighting to keep his emotions in check behind his Occlumency barriers

"We are also working this out as we speak. Carrying on, the will of your parents emancipated you at fifteen so you are legally able to claim your full inheritance now. However, although you are emancipated in the eyes of the law, you are not in the eyes of magic. If you were to try and put on the head of house rings now, you would probably lose your magic. At the best." All three humans paled at this. "To rectify this, I would ask that you return to Gringotts tomorrow so that you can under-go the ritual that is needed to magically emancipate you."

"Hang on, why didn't I have to do this ritual when I became of age?" Sirius couldn't help but jump in.

"That would be because you were emancipated at seventeen, where magic recognises your ascent into adulthood. With Harry, since he is not yet seventeen, it is different. Now I suggest both you and Ms. Black return back to where ever you are staying and we shall continue this discussion tomorrow, after the ritual. Also, some new robes would be good, Ms. Black looks as if she is about to freeze."

Harry burst out into a fit of giggles whilst Bellatrix changed to deep red in colour, shooting death glares at him.

After hugging Sirius goodbye and thanking Ragnok, Harry again put a wandless charm around their hoods, ignoring Sirius' muffled gasp. He then swept Bella off her feet, and carried her out of Gringotts, with her squealing all the way.

When they reached Diagon Alley, he put her down, much to her displeasure, and continued towards their temporary lodgings. His hand never left her waist though, and neither did hers.

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The next day found Bella waking up to find the space in the bed next to her empty and her usual pillow gone. Rising up out of the covers she found herself almost longing for Harry. Even just the fact that he hadn't been there when she woke up was enough for her to start missing him.

'_Grow up! You're a Black, and Blacks do not show weakness!'_

With renewed vigour she went about her normal routine as normally as she could in the small, dingy room that they were currently staying in. It was as she was beginning to settle down and work on her Occlumency barriers that she heard a key being put into the lock on the door to their room. Bell shot up from her cross-legged position on the floor to stand behind the door.

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Harry was climbing the stairs three at a time, hoping to get back before Bella woke up. He had been to the wizarding equivalent of a bakery and bought a fresh loaf of bread as well as two iced buns that he had been told would 'surprise him'. The shopkeeper obviously said that to try and encourage him but, if Harry was honest, he was now slightly wary of going anywhere near it.

He slid the rusty key into the well-worn lock and turned.

As Harry looked into the room, he noticed that it probably looked the best it ever had. The bed was made, the floor swept and the single, grotty chest-of-drawers in the corner was no longer looking as if it was infested with termites. One thing bothered him though, Bella was nowhere to be seen.

Stepping in through the door, he called, "Bella?". He heard a small sigh of relief from his right and turned to find Bellatrix behind the door, in presumably was a position that was ready to launch a surprise attack.

She engulfed him in a hug. "I thought that it could have been someone else, so I took precautions." She answered his unasked question. Suddenly, she pulled away. "Anyway, where have you been?!"

Harry winced at the sharp tone of Bella's voice, dropping the bag he was holding to the ground and holding his hands up in defence. "I thought that you would appreciate some decent food for breakfast this morning before we go into Diagon Alley. I was intending to be back before you woke up."

Her facial expression softened as she heard his words, before she picked up the bag from the floor and took it over to the bed.

"How did you manage to make this pig-sty look so good?"

She gave a sly wink over her shoulder. "We Black woman have a few tricks up our sleeve as well Mr. Potter."

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Harry and Bella were standing outside of a run-down, dark and dreary shop with a faded sign that read 'Kimana's Wands". The shop was located deep within Knockturn Alley in an area that Harry was sure was almost rotting from the filth that lined everything.

Both of them had been and got their robes previously from a shop that was run by an elderly man closer to Diagon Alley, but still deep enough that they could trust the shop owner to not turn them over. Harry had been done within ten minutes of entering the shop, Bellatrix however, took slightly longer. He supposed he should have expected it from a witch who liked to examine and try everything on that she even remotely liked. He only found one good thing about the trip and that was that he got to watch Bella come out of the single dressing room and parade around in here various boots, trousers and robes; she even went as far as to try some skimpy sleepwear, but both decided that their current sleeping arrangements were more than satisfactory.

Harry only managed to get Bella out of the shop when he reminded her that they still needed to get their wands and be at Gringotts for his ascension ritual.

Bella was wearing a new black leather biker jacket that was left open to reveal the tight black robes that she wore underneath, doing a very good job at accentuating her curves. The robes' hem was torn diagonally so that at their lowest they reached just above here knee before travelling upwards and stopping just below the opposite hip, exposing the skinny black trousers that she wore beneath. Following her long legs down would lead to the black high-heels she wore. If anyone looked at her, they would think she was off to an upper class party, not a grimy shop to buy a wand.

Harry was dressed more casually in a slim black polo shirt and dark blue jeans which were tucked into a pair of 8 eyelet black Dr. Marten boots.**  
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They walked into the wand shop holding their heads high and ready to face any danger that may come at them. As they crossed the threshold though, their view changed. Instead of the grimy shop they had seen outside they were now looking at a room that was bathed in a warm, golden light. The worktops were littered with wood shavings and the place smelled pleasantly of wood and honey. There were a few tools scattered around and now and then a half-finished wand could be seen, lying in and amongst the other shavings.

"Aaahhhhh, Mister Potter."

Both Bellatrix and Harry swirled to where the raspy voice had come from, only to see the two large eyes of a certain wand maker.

"Ollivander?!"

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**Well, there you have it, Chapter 10. I know it's not very long but it's gonna take me a while to get back into the swing of things. I hope (HOPE) to be able to update soon so stick around. Leave me a review if you want, if not then fair enough. **


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